Ring Disaster Again.

Remember my last ring disaster? When I got my ring cleaned and a side stone fell out? Yea. It happened again. Except this time... my baby tiny diamond is somewhere in Michigan. It disappeared at some point between "open bar" and "holy hangover."

My ring normally:

My ring upon waking on Sunday morning.

Mr Pug drives a lot for work so he dropped it off for me today. I needed to get it dipped anyway so it is there for a few days. I gave Mr Pug a note with details about the ring. I was disappointed at the stone replacement job last time- the circle setting has 2 or 3 scratches, like the person resetting the diamond was sloppy with their tools. I made sure to mention that and ask for them to fix the scratches. I know it is a very difficult setting type- prongs and bead-sets are much safer, unfortunately, and my ring has 4 of these diamonds.

I'm without my ring until probably Wednesday, and I am sort of embarrassed to tell people what happened! When you mention something breaking or being defective- from a car to a shoe- people automatically ask "where'd you get it?" And then they judge the heck out of that company. But I really like our jeweler! They've been nothing but wonderful to work with and are always happy to fix our problems (the two we've had). With a ton of tiny diamonds in a ring, you are bound to lose one or two. I know twice in less than two months isn't acceptable- but they're fixing it. Is it weird to feel embarrassed for your jeweler? I really don't know what I will do if it happens again next month!

I will tell you... there is no sinking feeling like waking up, looking down, and seeing a gaping hole in your ring. I might have to super glue that rock in! ;-)

Anyone else have an exciting wedding-related weekend?

Michigan Wedding Weekend Recap

What a wonderful weekend in Michigan! I have a ton to blog about- this is the first of a few tonight. Mr Pug and I left for Michigan after work. We dropped the puggies off to be boarded then hit the road for Lansing- our halfway point! The blocked rooms for the wedding were fairly expensive- $145- so we decided to just stay there one night. I was pretty pumped to get away and see a new state!

We left Lansing in the morning and drove about four hours north to Harbor Springs, where the wedding was. It's a gorgeous town on the lake... or so I've heard, since it was pouring rain most of the time! My friend sent me the forecast, "high of 60, chance of rain." I said, "ugh, that's miserable!" And Mr Pug said, laughing, "Yea, but we'll be LUCKY for 60 with rain for our March wedding!" So true, Mr Pug... so true.

Don't we clean up nice? Note that this was an actual attempt to curl my hair. I might need to pay my wedding stylist extra...

Another one of Mr Pug and myself... I got my shawl and dress from NY&Co where I work nights... discount, cha-ching!

Here is Mr Pug with one of his best men, D. D is one of my FAVORITE people and an amazing friend. He's also the best public speaker I have ever seen- he's going to be "the closer" at our wedding!

Mr Pug is the kind of guy who needs to see things work in order to be open to them. So this whole wedding really changed a lot of our wedding plans. It was beautiful and inspiring! So I thought I'd go over everything for you all, in bullet points :-)

• The hotel we stayed at was literally an Inn. No internet, no irons, no hair dryer. Mr Pug made the mistake of asking why my hair was frizzy... YIKES! I'm sure these were details the bride told her gal pals... but not something the groom would think to tell his friends. Mental note: provide amenity info... and also maybe check it out for myself next time?
  
• They gave us koozies and a map when checking in- very cute!
• The rooms were beautiful- and huge!
• The couple planned to have an outdoor ceremony- and apparently had no rain plan!! They found a small church in town last minute that let them hold it there. This made Mr Pug sure that we should have our wedding in a church- and I agreed. It just felt right! But that's for another entry...
• The couple each prepared little something to say one another at the beginning of the service. The bride's started with "Dear Diary... today I marry my best friend." Annnnnd cue tears. It was beautiful!
• After the wedding we went straight to the reception- it was a gorgeous, one room building with a stage... sort of like a really, really classy auditorium. I believe the lawn out front was where they had planned to have their ceremony. I wish I had taken a photo as we walked in- it was too dark when we left.
  
• Appetizers were passed for the first hour of the reception- the bacon wrapped scallops were a hit!
• The flowers used were assorted wildflowers. There didn't seem to be a color theme- her shoes were pink, and the flowers, napkins, etc were assorted bright colors.
• This was the bathroom: GORGEOUS! There was only one toilet per gender, but with it being this beautiful, who could complain? Yes.... that's my champagne.
  

• The reception was very casual- no champagne toast, no specific dances, etc. There was a fabbbbulous band playing which inspired us to add a ton of Motown music to our DJ list.
• For dinner, we were served lamb. I only eat chicken, so I requested vegetarian. Vegetarian was the lamb meal- minus the lamb! LOL! So I was a little hungry... but don't worry dessert solved that...
• There was NO WEDDING CAKE! Can you believe that? I've only heard of it, not seen it. They served an "adult" milkshake that tasted a lot like Kahlua was in it... delicious! They also served an amazing cookie.
  

• I was for sure ready for another...
  

• The centerpieces had a childhood photo of the bride and one of the groom sticking out of them. I had previously asked Mr Pug to do this and he said it would be too embarrassing- but seeing it done changed his mind! He said he'd do it... "but I don't want to copy them." I believe we'll do a 3-picture frame (small) with table number in the middle and childhood pictures of us on either side. I can't wait to DIY them... frames, that I can handle!
• There were two bars and wonderful waitstaff.
• They also had a photobooth! It was a huge hit- all these guys who would poo-poo it if their fiance suggested it (including Mr Pug) became obsessed seeing it in action! The bride and groom had a copy of each picture strip put in a guestbook by one of the two attendants, and we then got to write a nice note to them beside our picture. You can tell we are a little sauced...
  

Whew! That is a list and a half! There were so many details to remember. We had a blast and really enjoyed experiencing their wedding. Here I am with the groom:

And here is the bride, playing along with the band on stage! How fabulous is that!!!

After the wedding, we head over to one of the two bars in town. They kept trying to do last call, and Best Man D kept convincing them to just wait a little longer. Eventually Bride and Groom walked in... how can you close down when these two are there!?

Get a little too much booze in me and I sleep. I actually fell asleep at the bar... bad form, bad form. That's when Mr Pug knew to take me home. I promptly fell asleep with my glasses on. Miss Pug... always keepin' it classy.

When I woke up in the morning, I found that something was missing. Something sparkly. But that will be a whole 'nother entry tonight....

They're Heeeeeerrrreeeeeee!

They are HEREEEEEE! The e-pics on CD, that is! I knew it from the wonderful pink envelope sitting in our mailbox....

With everything going on in her and John's life, Erin still thanks US for our patience... I think they might be up for sainthood?

Erin is the queen of pink and green!

We're off to Michigan! So, I'll be going through them and posting about a TON of stuff this weekend (provided we have internet access.... hotels all do that, right?!?!?!) Stay tuned!

E-pics are almost here....

Remember when I told you about my photographer's grandmother being ill? Well this hasn't exactly been Erin's year. She had massive hail damage to her house (and some other issues too, I believe- maybe flooding?) as well as some family members' health issues. Wednesday her husband's car caught fire! Can you believe the year she has been having?!? We both agreed we can't wait for 2009 to get outta here and 2010 to take over.

Anyway, she somehow in between all this managed to finish our engagement pictures. She e-mailed me the link to the online album and mailed me the CD on Wednesday!

Here's a sneak peak of what might be my fave- sorry for the horrible quality, I did the old print screen, paste in Power Point, save as image, change to jpg trick. (Had I been on my Mac it would be been 3 steps simpler and better quality, oh well!) I will post the high-res version when I get the CD. Notice Mr Pug is using the pet hair roller in this photo... a daily occurrence and necessity.

I hope the CD will arrive today, since we are leaving for Michigan tonight! I could use some photo-viewing on our long drive! Mr Pug's college roommate is getting married tomorrow in super-northern Michigan (about as north as you can get without hitting the U.P.) We will drive halfway tonight, then finish tomorrow, since we unfortunately couldn't take off work.

Have you been overrun by weddings this summer? This is actually the first one we could make it to, but we have more this fall. How far have you traveled for a wedding!? This will be a 7 hour trip for us- yikes! I can't wait to recap the wedding this weekend and hopefully share some photos with you all!

First Official DIY... (it's a start)

With all the fabulous bloggers and future brides on Weddingbee and The Knot, it's hard not to be inspired to DIY. I've mentioned before my imperfect-perfectionism, so I've been skeptical. But the DIY section on Weddingbee was inspiring. What's that? I don't have to start alone, from scratch, confused? I found this one while bored at work, and made myself a little DIY-project during lunch!

I enjoy commisioning projects and finding real gems through Etsy, but after single-handedly funding a hypothetical-Etsy-child's first year of college, I thought it might be time for a break. This program was perfect. It seemed easy enough- and one sheet of paper for the inside? Psh! I could afford 200 or so sheets of paper! Easy and affordable you say? Go on...

I changed a bunch of things from the original template to make it fit our event. Except for the headers ("Thank You," "Wedding Party," etc) I justified the text to go to the outside edge of the page, either right or left. I loved the smaller, bold, all-uppercase type used sparsely throughout, so I made sure it was used and then made it green for a punch. I plan to talk to our invite/monogram/save the date/etc designer on Etsy and find out what fonts she used (so I can incorporate them) and what green she used (since I'm psycho.)

Our wedding will lead directly into our reception, cabaret style, so I included the menu in the program as well. I had to sort of guess on our selection of entrees and sweets, but that's what drafts are for, right?

Instead of the paper cover, I want to use a thicker-stock green paper (matched exactly per my OCD color matching tendencies, I hope) for a cover. Then, I will print on thicker white paper our monogram and affix it, as well as print the guest's name and affix it. That way- instant place card for the table! Oh I love the streamlining of it all.

Below is a picture I took to send to a friend of the very inside. The back of the "Thank You" one has our wedding party. If you can't see the text here, the top left are our Thank-You's, the bottom left is our Remembrances, and the Menu is on the right.

The back page will say:

Falling in love
is like owning a dog.

An Epithalamion by Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

First of all, it's a big responsibility,
so think long and hard before deciding on love.
On the other hand, love gives you a sense of security:
when you're walking down the street late at night
and you have a leash on love
ain't no one going to mess with you.
Because crooks and muggers think love is unpredictable.
Who knows what love could do in its own defense?
On cold winter nights, love is warm.
It lies between you and lives and breathes
and makes funny noises.
Love wakes you up all hours of the night with its needs.
It needs to be fed so it will grow and stay healthy.
Love doesn't like being left alone for long.
But come home and love is always happy to see you.
It may break a few things accidentally in its passion for life,
but you can never be mad at love for long.
Is love good all the time? No! No!
Love can be bad. Bad, love, bad! Very bad love.
Love makes messes.
Love leaves you little surprises here and there.
Love needs lots of cleaning up after.
Sometimes you just want to get love fixed.
Sometimes you want to roll up a piece of newspaper
and swat love on the nose,
not so much to cause pain,
just to let love know Don't you ever do that again!
Sometimes love just wants to go for a nice long walk.
Because love loves exercise.
It runs you around the block and leaves you panting.
It pulls you in several different directions at once,
or winds around and around you
until you're all wound up and can't move.
But love makes you meet people wherever you go.
People who have nothing in common but love
stop and talk to each other on the street.
Throw things away and love will bring them back,
again, and again, and again.
But most of all, love needs love, lots of it.
And in return, love loves you and never stops.

IN LIEU OF FAVORS, A DONATION WILL BE MADE IN OUR GUESTS’ NAMES TO KENTUCKIANA PUG RESCUE, AN ORGANIZATION NEAR AND DEAR TO THE BRIDE AND GROOM.

I found the Taylor Mali poem (not sure what epithalamion means, so we'll go with poem right now) and his wonderful website encouraged its use. I think it's a great way to tie in our "favor" and describe our wonderful puggy love story.

What I had a hard time writing was the Remembrance section. It's a constant reminder that I will have no dad at the wedding. I also am missing all my grandparents, as well as my Uncle- my mom's brother, who died 20 days before my dad. My family has been through a lot, and sometimes I get jealous looking at wedding photos where the only person "missing" is someone's great grandma. I am consistently playing around with ideas of how to bring my loved ones into the wedding, especially my dad, but without it being a downer. Luckily, my family members are all upbeat, optimistic, and fun-loving and won't let any sadness rain on our wedding parade. Typical Irish! I love it!

When I showed Mr Pug the mock-up, he brought up an issue I hadn't thought about. His parents are divorced (have been, for many years) and his mom is now in a wonderful relationship with a female partner. We consider her to be family, so naturally we thought to order her a corsage, and mention her in the program, just like his Dad's wife, or my Mom's boyfriend. But Mr Pug worried that his mom's partner wouldn't want that. I hate the challenges that face men and women who cannot be 100% "out," and I would hate for her not to get the credit and respect she deserves for being a huge part of our life and relationship. This will be an ongoing issue for us as we want to be respectful but joyful about their relationship and the role it plays in our life.

It's always something, isn't it? I can't wait as this program evolves and becomes more set in stone. What DIY projects have you attempted? Which projects are you leaving to the pros? And what unique family situations come up when trying to do traditional wedding tasks?

Bridesmaid L

I've already discussed my sisters (M & R, the MOH's) but of course wanted to show off the four other wonderful bridesmaids in our wedding party. I figured I'd do it whenever the mood struck. Today I got the urge to write about 'maid L.

I talk to L almost every day and can tell her anything. Today we were g-chatting and had this convo:

L: so what's new on the wedding planning front?
me: nada
L: boo
L: ur like done.
me: no far from it
me: just currently out of cashola
L: aww, what else do u have to do
me: i have to do all printed materials
me: finalize the menu
me: get some last-minute decor
me: make the ceremony decorations
me: get things to hold the desserts
me: finish buying all your gifts
me: make mr pug buy groomsman gifts
me: set hair/makeup appointments
me: do the trials
me: find shoes
me: dress fittings
me: buy jewelry
me: out of town bags
me: rehearsal dinner reservations
L: omg so many things i forgot about haha
L: omg
me: yea NOT almost done
me: but good try
L: haha i was like "oh she has the place, the flowers, the cupcakes, the photog and the dj! " done and done
me: LOL. can I post this convo on my blog pretty please?
L: haha sure

I love L's attitude about everything- she makes me smile. Even just her comments about Britney Spears can change my attitude.

We've been friends since 7th Grade... picture proof from a very special middle school Halloween... I thought this was from '99 but when I did the math it would have been more like '97... yikes. L was a baby, I was a secret agent.

We've done the whole Jersey summer thing every year (until I moved) and that included many concert tailgates! This one was from Guster... where we actually met them! Two of the guys came out since they couldn't believe people were tailgating their concert, LOL!

We also went to Acapulco together with two other friends.

A bunch of my gals came to visit me in Indy not long after I moved out here... this pic is from the South Bend Chocolate Company on the circle downtown- delicious!

And what trip to Indy with my bests would be complete without some bars and karaoke?

I don't get to see L (or ANY of my bridesmaids, for that matter) as much as I'd like, but I am still so lucky to have such great friends. I'm especially lucky because L and Mr Pug get along really great! Look at this creeper...

Thanks for being a great friend and Bridesmaid, L!! Love ya Hooch!

Paige

A few posts ago I mentioned we had a visitor on Saturday. We did- Mr Pug's Aunt P!

You may also be wondering what "Paige" means. Well, it's what I named my dress. Yes, I named her. How can I not? And why Paige?

Paige is one of my all-time favorite girls' names. Unfortunately, I will never get to use it. Why? Two reasons. #1 (and this one is pushing it) Mr Pug is one of all boys, except his sister. I mean, cousins and everything. Every generation has been like that. So I've come to terms with the fact that I will probably be girl-less. Reason #2 (this one is much more sound)... Paige rhymes with Mr Pug's last name. That would be like naming your child Kerry Berry. Years of torment.

So, I am celebrating my first and last "Paige" by naming my dress.

Ok, back to Aunt P. Our house is less than 900 square feet (I know, I feel bad for me too) and overrun by pugs and pug hairs. Seriously, pug hair is just a condiment now since we find it in EVERYTHING... even sometimes on our food. (Don't judge... you know you're jealous!) I don't trust this house, these pugs, or MR Pug! Like most girls getting married, I'd love to leave it at my Mom's, but Mama Pug lives in New Jersey. FMIL Pug is great but has 2 cats and a dog (the latter of which is worse-behaved than our pugs.) I didn't want cat-scratches or a stray lifted-leg near my dress, so I went to my next thought... Aunt P. She also lives here in Indianapolis, but is dog and cat free! She has a wonderful rabbit (we call her the "bun") who has a cage and gets to sometimes roam the first floor. My dress would be safe and well cared for on their second floor. Also, Aunt P is the kind of person you trust with your life. If I was in the CIA and told her a CIA secret, I honestly think she would go through questioning and torture for days before even thinking about admitting she knew anything. (Extreme example much???) She's trustworthy and cares so much about Mr Pug, me, and our furbabies. I am so lucky that she is willing to "watch" Paige for me! It was exciting to show her the dress on Saturday and see how excited she got too!

I'm also thinking about sprucing up Paige's quarters a little. I might go all Sorority on her and puffy-paint "PAIGE" onto her garment bag. (Any other Sorority brides? I'm a Sigma Kappa!! One Heart One Way!) I also want to get one of these:

I'd want it to say "mrs pug" (obviously substituting my new last name). You can find these hangers on etsy, sold by lilafrances. They are a gorgeous alternative to the padded hangers- and so much more personal!

Where is your dress right now? (Ladies... it's 10pm. Do you know where your wedding gown is? Bahahaha I crack myself up.) Are you doing anything to make your dress even more special?

Flowers a Go-Go!

I had a wonderful meeting with Chuck the florist on Saturday! Wonderful Mr Pug came with, thank goodness. He really knows his stuff. Of course I have to give it up to the wonderful Erin Hession (our photographer) since she's hand-picked all but one of our vendors... no joke!

The sad news is that I won't have my black dahlias. They will be out of season and hugely expensive if I could even find them. But, we are still a go for my bouquet being green spider mums, white anemones, and ranunculus. He had books and books by color of flowers, and by going through, I also selected lisianthus for my bouquet. They go well with the whole scheme and feel. The bridesmaids will get only spider mums- Chuck thinks this will have the most impact. Fiddlehead ferns will go in my bouquet if there are any available- I learned that they are very hit or miss. I also learned that with anemones and gerberas, if the center ordered is black, the warehouses just color the center with a marker! How cool is that?!?

p>I got great deals on boutonnieres and corsages. I selected these green orchids- the look will be similar to the picture below.

Going along with the orchids, Chuck has a signature centerpiece, which turns out to be quite affordable. They are floating candles over submerged orchids. I love the way they look and Mr Pug was HOOKED when he saw them. They are similar to the picture below.

We are going to call and officially book this week. I am consistently impressed with the vendors Erin suggests. They save me money and time, and Erin is worth really double what she charges because of this!

Do you have any particularly helpful vendors? And what surprises did you run into at the florist? I found out that a lot of flowers I hate (ROSES... so overplayed in my opinion...) are really expensive and that a lot of flowers have things about them that make them best for certain uses. Did anything change for you after learning more about your flowers?

Cupcake Tasting!

This morning I picked up our free six tasting cupcakes from Holy Cow, Cupcakes! I selected Red Velvet, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Maple Bacon, Cookie Dough, and Margarita. I also asked about Pistachio, and Karen said she would whip something up but wasn't sure about it being by today. We'll still work on it, but for today we got a chocolate one with vanilla frosting. I also purchased two for fun- maple (just sans bacon) and vanilla vanilla.

Here it is- attached to a gas station! It's the tiniest little place, so unassuming and SO GOOD! Their cake is organic and made with local ingredients when possible.

Driving home they were next to me... it was TOO tempting.

We had a visitor (I'll fill you in later) so they had to chill out a while before we could chow down.

It took us the whole day to get through these. I feel disgustingly full of cupcake and would happily not have one for a month or two, as delicious as they are. This picture has them labeled with flavors:

Mr Pug and I rated each cupcake 1-10 to help us decide what we like. Enjoy our notes!

Rating of 20: Cookie Dough

Mr P: "F-word Amazing. 10." Miss P: "Like Perfection. 10." The cookie dough is shoved down into the cupcake... it's truly the best of both worlds.

Rating of 19: Red Velvet

Mr P: "Delicious. 8." Miss P: "CLASSIC. 11." (I cheated a little. It's the cream cheese icing!)

Rating of 18: Maple Bacon

Mr P: "Awesome. 9." Miss P: "Mapleicious! 9." The maple flavor was strong- like a really, really good maple syrup. The smell was wonderful. And the bacon was a wonderful salty crunch. Definitely the surprise of the day.

Rating of 15: Chocolate with Vanilla

Mr P: "Good. 7." Miss P: "Moist and tasty. 8." I'm glad we tried their chocolate. This will be a good cupcake for people who don't want something crazy!

Rating of 14.5: Chocolate Peanut Butter

Mr P: "Good. 7." Miss P: "Rich. 7.5." We liked this one, but I wished it was chocolate cake with peanut-butter-buttercream. The icing was wayyy rich and the peanut butter cake was good, but together it was a little rich for my taste.

Rating of 6: Margarita

Mr P: "Gross. 1." Miss P: "Zingy. 5." I appreciated the citrus-y taste, but we are not citrus-cake people. It was a bit too zesty for me, but the flavor was really accurate! I hoped we'd like it because it's green- but I knew it probably wouldn't be up our alley.

We also tried the vanilla on vanilla (great classic) and the maple (great but the bacon makes it!) but didn't record those.

Yes, it was a day of cupcakes! And the good news is, they are sold by the dozen for $24. That's $2 per person! Which means it is much less expensive than most cakes in fun flavors with mid-level decorations, which run usually $5 or $6 per slice. Not paying for decorations really works for our budget!

I also have to fill you all in on the location of my dress, and our meeting with the florist- stay tuned! In the meantime... have you selected your cake yet? Which flavors look good to you? And would you be brave enough to try the... (dun dun dun) MAPLE BACON!?!?!

My "Veil!"

One of my faves, Ashley from Bride on a Budget, posted a whileeee ago about an Etsy vendor doing a giveaway. That vendor was Southern Girl Florals. (Her other Etsy site is Southern Girl Weddings.) I didn't win her give-away but HAD to get something! I sent her my inspiration, she sent back what she had come up with- and this is what that was! (In fact she gave me two options- how amazing is that- but this was the clear winner! It is exactly what I had invisioned!)

It came yesterday and luckily Mr Pug left it for me to open. I worked both jobs so I wasn't home until 10pm, but I opened it this morning to try it out! It came with a wonderful sweet, heartfelt thank you note from Lindsay- why are all Etsy sellers I've worked with just the nicest people? Anyway, I tried it on before I went to work. I want to have my hair with just the top pulled back (as little as possible, but I sucked at trying to make it look good) with this beauty as almost a casual, elegant mini-veil in the back. Since I'll get a few inches growing it out, I will have my hair in loose, voluminous curls.

Here are my lame photography attempts. Ignore the glasses, since unless I become allergic to contacts and tear my corneas in BOTH eyes, I will not be wearing them. And yea... my hair will be done by a professional.

Above is too blurry, below you can barely see it! Yikes! This is harder than I thought...

A little better! I love the touch of green in the ranunculus. The netting and feathers... so yummy.

This one gives a better view I think!

I decided to let our beautiful babygirl/diva pug Sophie try it on.

It would make a wonderful birdcage veil on her, don't you think?

Such a beautiful girl, Sophie!

A lot of brides DIY these type of things. Planning for the wedding has made me realize a lot about myself and my DIY personality/tolerance. I was talking to one of my NY&Co coworkers last night and we agreed we are both sort of perfectionists with OCD, but only about some things, which we also both agreed is weird and probably not "allowed." I'm messy when you look at my desk- but I like my bills to line up like how a bank gives them to you (face up, facing the same direction.) Little things matter to me. So when DIY-ing, I would be a "try, try again" type person. Things as important and as FOREIGN to me as flower fascinators would be an at least 2 or 3 try DIY. So I saved myself time and money by recruiting Lindsay. And boy am I ever happy that I did! Remember that sometimes, it's best to leave stuff to the experts, especially if they are going to do it fast, well, and cost-effectively!

What things have you DIY'd versus shopped around for? Do you have a favorite Etsy vendor? And what will you be wearing in your hair?

Postcard Giveaway!

Sweets and Life, a blog I just discovered thanks to Miss Mojito, is giving away 200 postcards! Wouldn't it be great to see these little faces on some Save The Dates?

Hop on over to Sweets and Life to enter!

Cold Sweat...

Deep breaths...

SEVEN MONTHS from today!!!!!!!!!!

So we ran into some money issues that will hopefully be resolved this week. Not knowing where we stand right now, with SEVEN months to go... I'm breaking out in a cold sweat! Gosh, I remember when my ticker wasn't even MOVING since it was 14 months and change! This wedding is sneaking up on me... lots more to do!